Remembering 1954
by KaijuCorp
Summary: An American news article written for the 50th anniversary of Godzilla's horrific attack on Tokyo.


**REMEMBERING 1954**

Written by Gregory Patch for the New York Times

"I don't know who to blame. Maybe it was the Americans, a lot of us certainly thought so back in 1954. I was young, but my parents talked about it for years. We also blamed the Japanese government. They handled the situation very poorly. Very poorly."

My guide, Kiyoshi Sasaki, was the kind of man who had seen a lot in life. As a journalist, he travelled to Vietnam during the war in 1966. Afterwards, he lived in America for about a decade where he married a girl in California. Together, they took part in protests against the US Government's nuclear power program. Sasaki made quite a name for himself with the police force. He continued to work as a journalist when America went to war with Iraq. He's seen a lot, but nothing compares to November 3, 1954.

Sasaki was only eleven years old when the creature known as Godzilla raided Tokyo. Like many unlucky citizens, he and his family were not evacuated in time. Fortunately, they found safety when Godzilla made landfall and were far enough away to avoid any radioactive contamination. Now, fifty years later, he looks back and takes comfort in trying to analyze the event.

We walked through the memorial gardens for about an hour. Sasaki was giving a tour to a group of Europeans who were visiting Tokyo for the anniversary. I must stop and say that the landmark is marvelous. There is a river where koi fish swim under a canopy of trees. The stone path is spotted with the pedals of flowers. The shrine itself seems to glow in the sunlight, where thousands of names have been etched into its walls. There couldn't be a more beautiful way to honor those who passed away that night.

Sasaki would stop every now and then to speak about a part of the garden. In between, I managed to converse with him about his feelings regarding the rampage. For someone who was there in the city that night, I was impressed with his analytical tone.

"The hospitals weren't prepared for that many people. The real toll came afterwards, because everyone who was nearby got infected with radiation sickness. That was the unspoken trouble. The lasting impact was much worse. There was a horrible feeling of loss throughout the nation for a very long time. We had just surrendered, and we were trying to rebuild, then we were attacked again."

When I asked him about the creature, he had this to say, "A victim in war is allowed to hate the people bombing him. He is allowed to see them as monsters. But I cannot see Godzilla as a monster. He was not malicious or brutal. He was just a confused animal in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Many of the people around Japan share Sasaki's opinion. Over the years, Godzilla has gained a sort of respect amongst certain communities, especially the scientific elite. One young lady I met even went as far to say that, "Godzilla was the real victim of the whole situation. He was an innocent being who was mercilessly killed by the governments of the world." I would find it hard to call the creature _innocent_, and we should remember that it was not any government that managed to kill Godzilla, but the bravery of a private individual. Nonetheless, these views would never have existed ten years after the rampage. Back then there was widespread hatred for the creature. Now, fifty years later, the people of Japan look back and see history from a different perspective. Most of them weren't even alive. They only know about the events because of what they've read in the history books or heard in Steve Martin's famous broadcast.

An older Japanese man recalled the questionable actions of his leaders back in 1954. "We were told that Godzilla had been killed. They fired torpedoes into the ocean for a couple of days and said they killed the monster. But they never found a body. There was never any reason for them to believe they killed it. We were ignorant and unprepared when it came onshore the first time. Then, instead of pursuing it, they put up an electric fence. Why not go after it and kill it? That was foolish."

There are still many who criticize the Americans for creating Godzilla (scientists still debate when this happened, but most agree that the Castle Bravo H-Bomb test was the most likely event that led to Godzilla's mutation). But as I walked around the memorial garden, I saw that many Americans were there as well. They felt the same sorrow as everybody else. Is it guilt? Perhaps. But it isn't Hiroshima or Nagasaki. I wish there was someone to blame for the rampage of 1954. It could've been the American government, the Japanese government, or maybe even somebody else. Nobody knows. We move on. The rampage was a terrible moment in Japanese history, but the nation has prospered ever since. Fifty years later, on November 3rd 2004, nobody has forgotten Godzilla, but the creature has taken on a very different meaning for the people of Japan.


End file.
